That's the plan ... but I'm not 100% certain that I'll have my mobile WB by then.

Brian (bcollinstex) is the owner of the test vehicle. I'm updating the first post now.

 

Update :: The WBO2 should be shipped today, so that means I should be able to log AFRs for this test as long as it doesn't take forever to arrive ...

 

Funny you should say that, I ordered some stiff motor mounts from RR last week. I'm not sure if it will arrive in time for me to install them before the tune. I'm getting bad engine shudder under hard shifting and acceleration.

Hopefully it won't mess up the tune very much.

 

I never thought that a tune was so important, how much do tunes usually cost? And where can you go for one?

 

mounts won't affect the tune, unless they somehow cause phantom knock (by allowing engine flex so bad the exhaust hits against tie bars etc)

 

That's exactly right. Unless yours are completely shot it should be fine.

However, if you install them before the tune we can tweak the idle to get rid of some of the cabin vibration that the mounts cause.

 

That's what this test is about ... many people don't feel that the tune is useful. I honestly feel that a proper tune could give you more power and help extend the life of the engine (in the case of the Lancer).

I can't talk about prices, but maybe some vendors on the site could help you with that. Many vendors offer tunes for the Evo for around $150 (if you have the cable used to flash the car). I would think a tune for the Lancer would be a little less since it's not boosted.

 

They are no where near that bad.

The motor mounts are still good, so yeah, probably more of a personal issue than performance related.

 

Oh ok, well I hope the results will be good, because I have a few bolt on mods. So, is this something that would have to bephysically done? You are saying that vendors are offering them. I'm just erally confused, and as someone who mods cars I feel like I should know what a "tune" is.

 

"Tuning" means modifying the data in the car's computer, or ECU. This can change the fuel mix, spark timing and other things that affect the vehicle's performance. Some vendors offer this service remotely and can e-mail you files to upload to the vehicle's ECU. You simply need the cable and software to connect to the vehicle.

 

Is that what a flash ecu is like what RRM sells?

Edit: I just read the sticky that's up top in the threads, and now I understand what it is. Thanks guys!

 

LM-1 came in yesterday. It's calibrated and ready to roll. I'm really looking forward to this test. I plan to test it this evening to make sure it'll log correctly. I got rained out yesterday.

 

This sounds awesome, can't wait to see what comes of it!!!!!

 

any updates ?

 

We did the testing Saturday. Some things came up Sunday and I didn't have time to write up the results. I'll post them within the next few days.

Cliffs:

It was hot as hell.

Car was knocking at cruise. Not enough to degrade the octane value, but enough that I'd personally worry about it.

The mods on the vehicle didn't throw off the factory settings/calibration much at all. fuel trims were not perfect, but acceptable.

AFR's on the stock tune were quite rich, but that's by design.

Aimed for a 12:1 AFR. Cat converter caused some variance in readings at the tailpipe depending on temp.

We didn't see notable gains on 87 octane at 12:1. I think we could get a little more power at 11.5:1 or so, but we ran out of time for testing.

It continued to be hot as hell.

We did find gains on 93 octane at the same 12.0:1 AFR, but still nothing extremely notable. Again, I think more could be found at a slightly richer AFR but we didn't test that.

At the end of the day, Brian left with the tuned 87 octane map. Not much in terms of power gain, but detonation at cruise should be gone and AFRs at high throttle are much better and that should yield better mileage for drivers with a heavy foot.